Bicester residents warn budding homeowners over broadband malaise

The residents of a new housing development in Bicester have once again aired their dismay at their homes' lack of super-fast broadband, this time in the form of a grassroots poster campaign.

To date, 400 properties have been constructed on the Kingsmere estate, with another 12,600 set to be built as part of the government's plans to turn the Oxfordshire market town into one of a new generation of garden cities.

However, the area's broadband speeds typically hover around the two Mbps mark, the BBC reports, which residents have vocally deemed to be unacceptable this month.

In their latest effort to draw attention to this issue, they are attempting to deter budding homeowners from buying property in Kingsmere by putting up posters that shame the estate's last-generation internet speeds.

The posters, which feature a crude drawing of a snail, bear the strapline: "Superfast broadband NOT available here!"

Commenting on the ongoing connectivity decable, resident and homeworker Matt Maunder told the BBC: "I need good broadband to do my job. We've actually got residents who moved here in August who still don't have a phone line - that's just unacceptable."

Mr Maunder added that not only has his work suffered as a result of his lack of super-fast broadband, but also his relationships with family members: "My family live abroad so I can't get in touch with them as easily as I would like," he said.

Countryside Properties, the developer of the Kingsmere estate, has attempted to shift the blame onto BT, which it claims agreed to a network design based on copper cables in 2010.

"It is then BT/Openreach's decision as to whether they would run copper or fibre through the ducting," a spokesperson commented.

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